Additive manufacturing and the global factory: Disruptive technologies and the location of international business

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emergent technology that is shifting the nature of production, sourcing, and other value-chain activities. AM has the potential to substantially disrupt the structure and operations of international business. In this paper, we leverage the global factory concept (e.g., Buckley & Ghauri, 2004) to frame our discussion of the likely impact of AM on global production. We identify and conceptualize specific variables and relationships to offer a nuanced explanation that highlights the potential re-distribution of global production at four levels of analysis – global, country, local area, and household. We propose how key variables – Intellectual Property Status, Industrial Standards, Branding, Aesthetics, Authenticity, Material Type, Complexity, Customization, Size, Logistical Complexity, Delivery Timeliness, Demand, Access, and Technical Competence – likely will impact localization of production. We examine industries and production activities likely to be most affected by AM. We conclude with a discussion of managerial and practical implications and identify avenues for further research.     

The labor market effects of the China Syndrome: Evidence from South Korean manufacturing

We evaluate the direct impact of China trade shock on the Korean labour market following the approach of Acemoglu, Autor, Dorn, Hanson, and Price (Journal of Labor Economics, 2016, 34, S1). Using firm- and industry-level data for the period 1993–2013, our direct estimates imply that the net employment effect of the China shock in the manufacturing sector is the creation of 0.52 million jobs. The positive impact is mostly driven by China's rising demand for intermediate inputs and capital goods from Korea to support its export expansion to the global economy. The import-competition channel plays a negligible role in manufacturing employment because it creates temporary jobs that merely compensate for the loss in permanent jobs. By contrast, over the same period, the average wage declined by 2.4%, and income inequality, measured as the gap between the high- and low-income quantile, grew substantially in manufacturing. In addition, we find that the direct effect of China shock lowers labour market concentration by shifting workers from big firms to small- and medium-sized firms.     

The determinants of new firm formation in italian manufacturing

This paper focuses on entry of small firms in the manufacturing industries. It is argued that the exit option can be viewed as an insurance against risks of failure, increasing the likelihood of entry in an uncertain environment; the result is implicit in recent stochastic models of competition and entry decision under uncertainty. A regression model of industry birth rates in the Italian manufacturing industries provides empirical evidence on the impact of factors determining the decision to enter and the supply of new entrepreneurs. In our estimates, yearly entry rates are found to decrease with entry costs and barriers and to increase with market growth, expected growth of small firms, risks of failure and an index of spatial concentration of activities.     

The Reverse Logistic Process of an Automobile Supply Chain Network Supported by a Collaborative Decision-Making Model

Decision system technologies have long since been a strong support to model and solve planning complexities in the supply chain in a collaborative context. Moreover, one of the main topics to emerge is reverse logistics, which is becoming more relevant in supply chains in terms of the logistics process of removing new or used products from their initial point. Therefore, to present the main aspects that should be considered to share the decision information, which is already used among the members of the supply chain, a study of reverse logistics has been carried out to discover how decision-making activities support the process in supply chains. Furthermore, a simulation experiment has been performed with both the DGRAI 3.0 tool and Rockwell Arena 11^® to observe the quality evolution of decision making and the economical impact that the proposed collaborative model will have on the current system. Moreover, this research work shows that a clear impact will appear on the decisional quality at the bottom levels of the supply chain than on the decisional quality of the whole system. The main work hypothesis is that the logistic process costs must lower given the implementation of the proposed collaborative model.     

全球价值链重构的经济效应--兼论中美经贸摩擦的影响

2017年,中美关系发生了实质性变化,美国对华战略从合作走向竞争。新冠肺炎疫情下,中美关系更是面临新的不确定性,中美经贸摩擦将影响中美两国的经济,进而产生连锁反应,造成全球价值链的重构。利用2014年世界投入产出数据库(WIOD)和假设提取法,测算中美经贸摩擦和全球价值链重构对世界43个国家或地区的经济影响,并重点模拟中美之间贸易由国内供给替代对增加值和劳动力就业的最大影响。结果表明:第一,基准模型设定下,经济效应存在地区异质性,中国周边地区、美国周边北美自由贸易区受到的影响最大,反映了区域性生产网络的存在。第二,相对美国,中国受影响更大,增加值下降2.5%以上;其余受影响较大的国家有爱尔兰、卢森堡、荷兰;印度和欧洲大部分地区受影响较小。第三,中美经贸摩擦对每个行业的影响不同,受影响最大的行业为中国的家具制造业和其他制造业,计算机、电子和光学产品制造业,以及美国的航空运输业。第四,假设其余国家或地区卷入中美经贸摩擦,存在替代效应和全球价值链重构,部分国家或地区增加值和劳动力就业均上升,上升最多的为22.42%。建议深化实施"一带一路"倡议,主动与周边国家或地区开展经济合作,强化区域价值链的影响,同时积极培育和发展国内产业链。     

The efficiency of small manufacturing firms in Japan

It has been suggested that market structure will have an impact on within-industry differentials in efficiency, or cost disadvantages of small firms. To test this hypothesis, this paper examines the effects of market structure on the productivity (relative to industry productivity) of small manufacturing firms in Japan. The results show that market structure elements such as concentration and capital requirements work to the disadvantage of small-firm efficiency. The findings provide support for the hypothesis.     

The environmental effect of trade liberalization: Evidence from China's manufacturing firms

While prior literature on trade liberalisation and the environment has mostly focused on the macroeconomic ramifications, this study explores at the firm level whether and how changes of trade barriers brought about by China's accession to the WTO may impact on its manufacturing firms’ environmental performance. Adopting a difference-in-differences (DID) methodology, we document the effects of tariff reductions on improving firm-level SO2 emission intensity, and the key corporate strategic decisions responsible for delivering the observed results, with robustness tests covering other major pollutants. In response to trade liberalisation, firms are found to increase labour resources for environmental protection and to improve their production processes to reduce emission intensity. This study contributes to the literature by investigating at the level of the operating firm how output and input tariff reductions may impact on environmental performance and uncovering for the first time the specific actions responsible for the results.     

The branding challenges of Asian manufacturing firms

During the past quarter of a century, Asia has risen to become the world's factory. This trend has, however, coincided with the relative decline in value of manufacturing compared to other value adding activities, including R&D, design, and branding. This significant “value shift” has eroded the margins of manufacturing firms and sparked considerable interest among executives in Asia to design, brand, and market their own products. To date, though, this transition from being manufacturing oriented to becoming brand owners has largely only been accomplished by Japanese and Korean firms. In the rest of Asia—including in the rising giants of China and India—there are very few valuable brands. In fact, there is not a single Asian brand from a country other than Japan and Korea in Interbrand's 2008 valuation of the world's top 100 brands. Our article discusses, in depth, the challenges that Asian manufacturing firms encounter as they try to become “branders” and how these challenges can be overcome. Based on our collaboration spanning academia and consulting, we have been able to tap a wealth of information made available through research, case studies, and Interbrand's database of completed brand related assignments across Asia.     

大数据驱动制造企业与物流企业协同发展的实证研究

大数据和大数据技术的快速发展和应用,为制造企业和物流企业的生存和发展带来了新的机遇和挑战,如何运用大数据和大数据技术推动制造企业与物流企业有效协同,成为当前理论界和实业界关注的焦点。为探究大数据驱动制造企业与物流企业协同发展的内在机理,可基于大数据可挖掘性、价值性、真实性、多样性等主要特性,构建大数据驱动制造企业与物流企业协同发展概念模型并提出研究假设,进而运用结构方程模型对研究假设进行验证。研究结果发现,大数据的价值性、真实性、多样性对制造企业发展水平具有显著正向影响,而可挖掘性对其正向影响不显著;大数据的真实性、可挖掘性、多样性对物流企业服务水平具有显著正向影响,而价值性对其正向影响不显著;大数据的可挖掘性、真实性对制造企业与物流企业协同程度具有显著正向影响,而多样性、价值性对其正向影响不显著,不过价值性可以通过影响制造企业发展水平产生间接影响作用。这与目前我国制造企业、物流企业运用新一代信息技术驱动自身转型升级尚处于起步阶段存在很大关系。未来,随着科学技术的进步以及制造企业智能化与高端物流的发展,大数据将在驱动制造企业与物流企业协同方面发挥显著重要作用,最终促使制造企业与物流企业形成长期稳定的协同发展关系。